When a NY Times music critic and reader clash over a piano recital

I must admit that I chose not to put the title of this writing in the first person. Perhaps, in an egalitarian spirit, I wanted to identify with any audience member or newspaper reader, who might be offended by a particular music review of a favorite recitalist. Part and parcel of such displeasure, might include…

What “authentic” edition should a piano student use when learning repertoire of the Masters?

I'm thinking back to my ancient days studying with Lillian Freundlich in New York City. During this period, like any fledgling I relied on my teacher as an "authority" figure to recommend what Mozart Sonata edition, for example, I should buy down at Patelson's. (This was decades before the quaint hub for musicians seeking authenticity…

Steering a piano student to his true life passion!

I don’t often veer off the beaten path in my piano blogs except when an unusual opportunity presents. In this case, a 19-year old named Tony Levine, a.k.a El Cerrito K-I-D grabs the spotlight. To make a long story short, Tony was one of my piano students about a year ago. At the time, he…

Lugansky’s piano teacher, Tatiana Nikolayeva, displayed greatness in her own right

What an irony that Nikolai Lugansky, star pupil of Tatiana Nikolayeva was bestowed, perhaps by chance, the masculine form of his teacher-to-be's last name. A prophetic link for both. I noticed that the esteemed teacher Dimitri Bashkirov, refers to his daughter's surname, Bashkirova, so the feminine equivalent of Russian names is often taken within a…

Yevgeny Sudbin, another Russian Pianist topples my day!

I had my heart set on working out at the gym before noon, but as fate had it, I was stopped in my tracks by the breathtaking artistry of Yevgeny Sudbin. (only 32 years old) And it was merely 24 hours after I'd cried over Nikolai Lugansky's Schumann Intermezzo from Faschingsschwank aus Wien. Could these…

The Piano Repertoire: Does making fingering/hand adjustments constitute a “swindle?”

Seymour Bernstein, author of With Your Own Two Hands, remarked that "Chopin wrote out an outline for an intended method of teaching piano. And when he died he left it to Charles Alkan who never finished it. Wouldn't you think that Chopin would stress at the beginning that everything depends upon a deep emotional involvement…

Nikolai Lugansky, pianist, plays chess and loves poetry

The nearly 7-minute You Tube interview was telling. Luganksy waxed poetic about poetry, and recited one of his favorites by Boris Pasternak. It was in Russian, but it's lyrical lines stole the show. No translation needed. He was seated beside a conductor named Petrenko, and both were being queried by the first bassist of the…

A former piano student carves out a unique life as a dance accompanist or is it “Freeway Gypsy?”

For Becca Wong, her career path seemed predestined. Having had a firmly rooted music and dance background in her native Hong Kong prior to her arrival in California, she was at least predisposed to a future vocation celebrating the arts. Her enrollment in the Royal Academy of Dance, allied to the British school system, added…

A fine pianist and comedian rolled into one!! (plus a bonus peek at a hilarious duo)

The multi-talented Mitchell Zeidwig is one of a kind. While Victor Borge considered the safety of the piano bench his principle domain give or take a few slips and slides, Zeidwig tempts the gods by going the greater distance with his super-daredevil routines. He'll climb in and out of a grand piano's cramped space and…

Piano Performance retrospectives: The seeds of greatness were sown early in life

It was fascinating to discover videos of pianists in their teens that hearken back to their earlier years of study. In all, a hallmark feel for the phrase and nuance highlights their performances in the past and present. In addition their heartfelt playing rises above the notes and communicates a musical passion that is unabashedly…